This is my favourite version of Loch Lomond in part because of the lyrics - almost none of the other versions contain these same verses, just the same chorus - but also in greater part because of Roy Williamson’s heartbreaking vocal performance that so perfectly conveys the air of the song.
The song is a woman’s lamentation for her love who she lost when he went to fight for Bonnie Prince Charlie during the Jacobite uprising. That is the summary of the most popular interpretation of the song, anyway; there is no definitive story to it.
The Corries - Loch Lomond
O whither away my bonnie May Sae late an’ sae far in the gloamin’ The mist gather grey o’er moorland and brae O whither sae far are ye roamin’?
Chorus: O ye’ll tak the high road an’ I’ll tak the low I’ll be in Scotland afore ye For me and my true love will never meet again By the bonnie bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond I trusted my ain love last night in the broom My Donald wha’ loves me sae dearly For the morrow he will march for Edinburgh toon Tae fecht for his King and Prince Charlie O well may I weep for yestreen in my sleep We stood bride and bridegroom together But his arms and his breath were as cold as the death And his heart’s blood ran red in the heather (chorus) As dauntless in battle as tender in love He’d yield ne’er a foor toe the foeman But never again frae the field o’ the slain Tae his Moira will he come by Loch Lomond The thistle may bloom, the King hae his ain And fond lovers may meet in the gloamin’ And me and my true love will yet meet again Far above the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond (chorus)
